Interactive maps have added a new flavor to online dating. Based on the user’s geo-data, they can show missed connections and give single men and women a hint at the places where they could have already met their potential soulmates. Will geolocation become a new norm for dating apps in the future? Let’s figure it out.
Why Is Geolocation Gaining in Popularity in Dating Apps?
Today, Geolocation is becoming a popular feature among online dating apps. It encourages users to become more open, playful, and communicate with strangers directly without long texting and messages.
Geolocation is a convenient feature that makes matching slightly easier. The idea behind using it in dating is the following:
“If I often encounter some people at the same places, it is highly likely that I have interests in common with these strangers. So, if I speak to them, we will probably find shared experience.”
The assumption is that people who physically visit similar places are likely to have common characteristics and interests. So, why not let them know each other better?
The app facilitates real-world social contacts allowing users to avoid long and unproductive chatting with those who are not interested in building a relationship, which is often a problem of dating apps.
How Do Users See Potential Matches with Geolocation?
There are several ways how a dating app can show you a potential match based on geolocation data. For example, imagine a woman looking for single men. Depending on what app she uses, she can get a notification that the guy whose profile she looked through is nearby. She can also see the approximate distance in miles or km, get to know the approximate area, city, or the precise place that she visited together with other single men.
Is Using Geolocation Safe?
Dating apps usually don’t show your precise position in real time, so users who are afraid of stalking can feel safe. Indeed, sharing your location data with complete strangers can be a tricky adventure, because you never know who this unknown person is before you start talking. Didier Rappaport, the founder of Happn, said the technology allowed them to indicate a precise location of a user, but they stayed away from this and decided to show only the area. The key reason for it was the rising security concerns among the female representatives looking for single men. Women are in general more afraid of meeting strangers with bad intentions. A good recommendation for all users in this regard is to choose apps that let you manage location data, hide the places you don’t want to share, and switch off the location detector when you want.
What Are the Examples of Interactive Maps in Dating Apps?
Happn
Happn, a French 100% mobile, geo-localized, and real-time dating app that connects people who have already visited the same spots and places. Though this dating app was powered by geolocation from the very beginning, it keeps introducing new features. Now users can also see an interactive map and see the people who were at the same places over the last 7 days.
Let’s return to the example with the woman looking for single men. The Happn’s interactive dating map lets her click on particular places, restaurants, bars, exhibitions, or any places which she visited and then see potential matches who also checked the same places. So, this woman can just look through her daily route from work to home and see how many single men she can meet every day. Previously, the app showed only the timeline, now the interactive map makes the search much easier.
If the user doesn’t want to share location all the time, say, while at work or at home, he or she can hide their location during a particular time of the day. Women who have concerns about the single men they want to date can use this feature to limit the information that they disclose. Users either turn on and off the mode every time or pay for a subscription and enable the automatic performance of the app according to the needed schedule.
Tinder
Tinder, famous and infamous for its Swipes at the same time, also introduces geolocation features, Tinder Places. Though the idea of Tinder originally was different — matching single men and women based on their short descriptions and photos. Now it can also let you find a match based on geographical data.
Users can tweak the map in Tinder Places in such a way to block tracking in particular spots, for example, their office, home, or gym. The dating app won’t show their profiles or suggest matches in the chosen areas, which guarantees users a certain extent of safety and privacy. Users get notifications when Tinder wants to add their location to the map, so they can agree or remove it. Though the interactive map is available in limited areas, it is absolutely free to use.
Conclusion Thoughts
So, are geolocation features in dating apps good or bad? The answer is tricky. On the one hand, geolocation gives users an exciting risk of meeting a stranger and the possibility to find a person ready for a relationship nearby. On the other hand, users can feel insecure sharing their precise position in real time as it opens opportunities for stalking and can indeed impose some threat. To tackle this concern, app owners don’t introduce too precise maps (though they can) and give users control over what data they want to share and not.